Ahli were beaten 1-0 by Adelaide United in the Club World Cup fifth/sixth place game played in Yokohama on Thursday. Brazilian striker Cristiano sixth minute goal was enough to hand the Australian champions the win. Adelaide looked dangerous early on in the game, and Cristiano opened the score line, after the retreating Ahli defense allowed him to hit a storming shot from outside the box, which went straight towards Amir Abdul-Hamid's top corner. Three minutes later, Abdul-Hamid rescued Ahli from conceding a second as he stretched to keep out Sasa Ognenovski's looping header from Paul Reid's right wing cross. The Ahli defense were allover the place, and on 13 minutes they were lucky Cristiano hit his low effort wide, after a lovely Adelaide move set the hit man one on one with Abdul-Hamid. Ahli's only real threat of the first half came when Flavio hit the side netting after meeting Ahmed Fathi's corner with a powerful header at the near post. After the interval, Ahli coach Manuel Jose tried to boost his team's performance by bringing on Osama Hosni and Hussein Yasser in place of Mohamed Abou-Treika and Ahmed Hassan. The Red Devils looked slightly improved as they slowly started to push for an equalizer.
Gomaa had Ahli's best chance of the game Wael Gomaa wasted a golden opportunity for the Cairo giants in the 58th minute. Sayed Moawad's cross beat Adelaide keeper Eugene Galekovic and found Gomaa and Hosni totally unguarded. The pair went for the ball before Gomaa blazed his header over. On 67 minutes, Flavio Amado was replaced by Hani Al-Egeizi to complete Ahli's three substitutions. Later on, Fathi, who was doubtful for the game with an injury received a knock and was forced to resume the game after Ahli ran out of substitutions. Ahli had one last chance to save their blushes and level the score, when Mohamed Barakat darted his way past the Adelaide defense, but the midfielder's resulting shot was blocked by Galekovic. While the win earns Adelaide Club World Cup fifth spot, Ahli are finish the competition in sixth. Watch the game's goal:
